EU Kids Online Conference – Event discusses the digital environments of Portuguese children and young people

Four out of five Portuguese Internet users between 9 and 17 use the internet every day to listen to music and watch videos and three out of four use it daily to communicate with friends and family. In this environment of opportunities, the reverse also exists: 23 percent report that they had lived in the last year situations on the Internet that bothered and disturbed them.

These and other results of the latest EU Kids Online survey will be presented and discussed at the conference Digital Children and Young People in the Digital Context, which will take place on 28 February at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of the New University of Lisbon (NOVA FCSH ).

For Cristina Ponte, NOVA FCSH and coordinator of the Portuguese team of the EU Kids Online network, this study allows us to characterize the current digital environment experienced by the younger ones and that is dominated by the mobile media: daily use of the smartphone to access the Internet more than duplicates this daily computer access. “This situation is practically the opposite of what happened in the last study four years ago,” she observes.

As she underlines: “It has increased the digital offer and also increased opportunities and risks. That is why digital skills surpass the management of technologies: you have to know how to search and evaluate information, how to communicate with others in social networks, take advantage of the technological potential to express yourself creatively and to participate in social life. And it is also important to be able to ‘turn off’, against the pressure of the very dynamics of the environment. ”

The most disturbing experience, cyberbullying, or the exposure to negative content – such as incitement to anorexia or hate speech – are some of the risk situations analyzed. To these are added new constraints, such as “sharenting”, the growing practices of parents who share their children’s images on social networks without their consent.

Cristina Ponte points out that the results of this study allow us to realize differences associated not only with the age of the users but also with the gender: “There is a significant difference between boys and girls with regard to parental control and the relationship with family and school in situations. Girls are more targeted for family attention than boys, and also seek family support when they encounter problems on the internet. ”

In their diversity, these results, points out NOVA FCSH researcher, are important for a reflection that should involve the children and young people themselves, their families, teachers and professionals dealing with them, as well as industries and responsible for good policies and safety. The program of this Conference had this objective in mind.

The participation in the conference – open to the public – is free, subject to the limitation of the room where it will take place. Participants will receive a certificate of attendance and will have access to the study report. The program and the application form can be accessed at http://fcsh.unl.pt/eukidsonline/

Methodological note

The EU Kids Online survey was applied in public and private schools across the country, including the Azores and Madeira, in a representative sample of 1974 boys and girls aged nine to 17 years. Fieldwork, conducted by GfK, ran from March to June 2018. The self-completion questionnaires were applied in rooms equipped with computerized means, under the supervision of interviewers. The Portuguese results will contribute to the European database that brings together responses from 19 other European countries to the same questionnaire. European results will be available in 2019.

About EU Kids Online

The EU Kids Online network, which emerged in 2006, is internationally recognized as a source of high quality and comparable data on internet opportunities and risks for children and young people. Bringing together 33 European countries, the network presents a multidisciplinary and multi methodological perspective on Internet security. The impact of the EU Kids Online network builds on the strength of its ten-year research experience and is at the heart of UNICEF’s Global Kids Online network. More information at www.eukidsonline.net

09:45 – 11:15 – General presentation of the studyModeration: Ana Aranha – National Commission for the Promotion of the Rights and Protection of Children and Young People (CNPDPCJ)
Presentation: Cristina Ponte and Susana Batista
Comments:
Catarina Oliveira – Member of the Digital Leaders group, youth panel of the SeguraNet / DGE ProgramSofia Rasgado – Coordinator of the Internet Secure Consortium, FCT
Debate